NHL: No supplementary discipline for Brandon Dubinsky

NHL: No supplementary discipline for Brandon DubinskyThe NHL\'s Department of Player Safety has determined there will be no supplementary discipline for Brandon Dubinsky.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Blue Jackets lost Brandon Dubinsky for the third period of Sunday's game against the Anaheim Ducks, but they will have him back in the lineup when they travel to Pittsburgh later this week.

The NHL has informed the Blue Jackets that it's now "case closed." Dubinsky was assessed a five-minute major penalty for interference and also a game misconduct for a hit on Anaheim's Saku Koivu at the 19:25 mark of the second period. The Ducks eventually scored a go-ahead goal 1:51 into the third period (Emerson Etem) and won the game 4-3 on a late goal from Corey Perry.

TSN's Bob McKenzie was first to report Monday morning that the NHL's Department of Player Safety reviewed the hit and determined Dubinsky would not receive supplementary discipline (i.e. a phone or in-person hearing) for the incident. Dubinsky has never been suspended by the NHL but was assessed a $10,000 fine last season.

Here's what Dubinsky said after Monday's practice at Nationwide Arena:

On the league's decision: "I'm obivously happy and I agree with what they thought of it. I'll say it again: I don't want to hurt Saku in that situation and I wouldn't want to hurt anybody. I don't think I'm a player that tries to hurt people, so I'm glad they saw it as a clean hit the same way I did. The part that hurts is the fact that (the referees and linesmen) huddled together, saw a big hit and made the call."

Asked if he had any frustration today based on the penalty's impact on the game: "(Anaheim) scored on the power play, I'm not in the game anymore...I'm not saying I'm a savior to the team and I'm going to go out and win the game for us, but I'll tell you it would have helped our game to not have to go out there and kill the first five minutes of the third period, which is usually a pretty good period for us. Nothing you can do, you can't go backwards. I'm glad they got it right and I can just continue to go about my business."

"It's frustrating but we can't take it back. I don't have a time machine, so it's over. It's hard for the refs; I'm not going to sit here and blame the refs. They see it in real time, they don't have the technology that everyone else does. I think if it was the other way around, I would have been right there in the circle (lobbying) for a five-minute major myself. It's a tough pill to swallow, obviously, being on the receiving end. But I'm glad that they got the decision right."

On how he felt last night and into today prior to the decision: "I was pretty down about it. You don't want to put your team in a bad spot. If I was suspended, I feel like I'm an important enough part of the team that it would hurt the team if I wasn't in the lineup, so you think about that. You think about Koivu...I don't know how he was feeling but he didn't return to the game, so you feel bad for hurting a guy. A lot of emotion and anticipation, I guess; I was able to watch it quite a few times and felt, again, how I felt on the ice: that it was an honest and fair play."